biding my time.

i am waiting and i am waiting patiently. for what you ask? the most delish champagne evah. it's an italian sparkling wine, deep red with wonderful bubbles tickling your nose with every sip. i'm waiting for new year's to come so i can enjoy with a purpose. of course, typically, i need no cause for drinking champagne, for example, having mimosas at 8:30 while playing mario party 8. but this time, with this italian masterpiece, i wait. and it will be awesome.

freshly peeled oranges

that's what my classroom smells like right now. i cleaned with the kids at the end of the day and the clorox wipes that we used were flavored like oranges. needless to say, it's as if we went for a ride in "soarin' over california" at california adventure at disneyland. you know, the part where you "soar" over "orange county?" i don't think that orange county still actually grows oranges or not. hmm.

the kids are gone and i have my ipod playing because all of my conferences are done and done. i have no one to talk to and i gotta say...it's really nice to be alone with my technology.

daddy and i went to the LA Auto Show last night and it was actually kind of sad. there was no one there. it was a ghost town. nissan didn't even show up. honda had a small little area and ford took up an entire half of a hall. toyota didn't even bring all their production vehicles. scion had one of each of their cars. it made me sad because the auto industry is struggling so much. something i love so much is floundering because their companies can't make a car that people can afford. and if they do, it's one that may not be running in a few thousand miles. or needs a new transmission at 53,000 miles. ::sigh:: that sounds so familiar. where have i heard that story? oh, yeah. it's me. that was my car.

so, yeah. i'm gonna go see what websites aren't blocked by the LAUSD firewall and see if i can finish up my christmas shopping. i'm stuck here until 2:35 anyway, so i may as well be useful while i breathe deep the smell of freshly peeled oranges.

ten fingers, ten toes.

no. this is not a baby post. this is a "i'm glad i still have all my digits because of the hypothermia that set in about two hours ago" post. seriously. it's no wonder that i'm typing so poorly. i can't feel the keyboard. at all. it's bad when i look forward to going to work because of the functional heater that i can use till my heart's a-blazing because i don't have to pay the electric bill.

wait. maybe that's the real reason we're in a budget crunch? because we over-use our heaters at school? nah. there's got to be other reasons...

bad budgetary issues aside, i'm just happy to have all my fingers and toes. i have cold feet again, or still, but it's not so bad that i can't warm back up.

anyway. let's talk about the dream i had last night. yes. dinosaurs. lots of them. i have developed this odd little fascination with them in the last year and a half or so. it all started with the original "raptor" dream. i've had a few dino dreams here and there, but mostly they leave my head before i wake up. the ones that i do remember stick with me.

for example: the dream i had last night involved a conference room, a meeting of some sort and the idea that the raptor herd had morphed into two distinct herds. now. i don't know what all that would mean in a realistic sense, but i can tell you that everyone in the room was pretty upset at the idea of two raptor herds. i can understand where they're coming from! did you ever see jurassic park?? they attack FROM THE SIDES! these two raptor herds somehow worked TOGETHER and took down a tyrannosaur. this idea is terrifying. how did the raptors in my dreams get strong enough to take down a t-rex? the original bad boy of the dino world. he's the image you get in your head when you think about jurassic park.

needless to say, this dream has been coming back at me for the last 8 hours with a vengeance. i'm back to being paranoid before walking around corners. locking myself in a dark bathroom (i couldn't get the light switch fast enough before the door closed) at school today was hard. you may think that this is all idiocracy, but believe me when i say: they're named "terrible lizards" for a reason.

"Storm Watch 2009"

Rain always makes for an interesting week. We have a funky schedule and it's joined by funky weather. "Storm watch 2009!!!" has started with a vengeance. Guys. Dude. Seriously. It's just water. Rain. It's really no big deal. The only people that need to be a little concerned are those whom their backyards are now charcoal thanks to the latest fires that swept through southern California. If I lived on a hill, sure, I'd be a little concerned. If a fire whipped through my backyard, sure, I'd invest in a few sand bags to protect my dishwasher. But other than that? All that freaking out over water falling from the sky? Over kill. Every year, it's the same thing. "WE'RE KEEPING AN EYE ON THAT FROSTY STORM THAT'S HITTING CALIFORNIA! WATER! WATER! EVERYWHERE!! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DOOOOOOO??!!?!?!"

!DOOM!!DOOM!!!!freakout!..!

!!!panic!!!sandbags!!STORM!! !!

The people that live in Seattle have GOT to be making fun of us. Hell, anyone that lives in the Pacific Northwest MUST be laughing. "Look at the idiot Californians freaking out over their "storm." I'll bet they don't even get an inch."

So, with that, be careful out there, LA. Don't let the big, bad, storm clouds get you down. The sun will be back next week.

to sing or not to sing

that is the real question. i miss singing in a choir. i watch "glee" (or at least catch up every couple of weeks) and LOVE watching the kids sing together in a group.

godmother fa fa has started going to church again and at church, she has joined the choir. so has another friend that i grew up with. she even has a big ol' part tomorrow. solo or some such. and i gotta say, i'm a mite jealous. put me in, coach! i wanna play!

the only problem that i'm having is the dedication i would have to give to the choir. a membership would constitute a thursday night weekly practice (which i apparently wouldn't have to go to) and sunday morning sing. at 10:30 am. every sunday. this is the original reason that i stopped playing softball. i didn't want to have a "thing" to do every sunday morning. but now, i'm heading back that way with my need to sing.

so. yeah. to sing or not to sing. still thinking. until then, i'll continue to sing along to show tunes in my car on the way to work.

punkin' chunkin'

is the best show of engineering and american capabilities. people from around the nation create pumpkin launchers of varying materials and abilities. there are catapults, compressed-air launchers, trebuchets, and gravity ones. and all of them are awesome. i am enthralled by the abilities of these hicks. one guy, wearing a blue bandanna and a shirt that said "fat jimmy" on it started talking about the math and physics that went into his catapult. i had to take a double take of this fool. ...say what? i could barely pass basic algebra. thanks for that boost of self confidence, fat jimmy.

cold weather and possible showers

it's about time, people. we're so hard up for water, you'd think we lived in a desert. i'm digging the new, cold weather. the wind whipping stuff into my face, the tips of my fingers numb, my toes cold. again. it's all part of the "winter" we have in los angeles. i couldn't imagine living in a place that snowed. it would be fun for about 3 days. then you'd start to realize stuff like: "wow. i gotta go shovel the drive way" or "gee, maybe i should put on another jacket on top of the two i'm already wearing." salting the sidewalk? really? no thanks. i'll live here with my wanna-be seasons and maybe-if-i-feel-like-it rain showers.

my feet are cold. again.

or maybe still. you never really can tell with my feet. they seem to be sweaty and cold all the time. what i would love from santa are socks that heat my cold little piggies. slippers don't work. and neither do socks. especially if my feet are cold BEFORE they get put in slippers. or socks.

don't rush me

I wanted to think of a new blog name. So, after many-a-delete-key, I glanced to my left and my hero was sitting there, waiting for the light to hit. Champagne. It's always about the Champagne. Especially when it comes to playing with my mom and I. You need to be able to keep up with our drinking abilities, especially when it comes to Champagne. So, with the risk of sounding completely into myself (and who can kid about something like that. Guilty. Why do you think I have a blog? Or three?) this is a little glimpse into my life, on Champagne Thursday and any other day of the week.

(By the way, I'm not actually drinking Champagne right now. So sue me. I'm drinking my way through a bottle of Maddalena Riesling from 2006. And it's fantastic. You can be jealous. Go ahead.)